Constant Vigilance
by occaecation
Summary: What happens when two crazy girls give Hogwarts a whole new experience? The story is set in the school year of 1944 to 1945. Grindelwald and Dumbledore are teachers, Armando Dippet is the headmaster and lots of crazy stuff happends. Full summary inside.
1. Happy Beginnings

**Summary: What happens when two crazy girls give Hogwarts a whole new experience? The story is set in the school year of 1944-1945. Grindelwald and Dumbledore are teachers, Armando Dippet is the headmaster, and Tom Riddle is a student along with Minerva McGonagall and Alastor Moody. From drugged cookies to exploding walls it all happens. So R&R. Have fun with this story it promises to be hilarious.**

**Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to J.K. Rowing, Rayne LaBorde and Stephanie DeMattos belong to themselves (as they are the authors) and Quinn Grindelwald's first and middle names and Armando Dippet's looks belong to Freelancer (thank you!)**

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**A/N: Constant Vigilance takes place from September 1944 to June 1945, and is based off of a dream of Stephanie's, with some parts added and some of the weirder parts taken out. Stephanie and Rayne are in their seventh year, Armando Dippet is headmaster, Quinn Grindelwald is Charms teacher and deputy headmaster, and Albus Dumbledore is Transfiguration professor. We offer our deepest thanks to J.K. Rowling and Freelancer, both who have made this story possible.**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 1:

Happy Beginnings

Two seventh year Gryffindor girls, Rayne LaBorde and Stephanie DeMattos, who were best friends, walked into the Entrance Hall, having just gotten off of the Hogwarts Express. It had been raining extremely hard, and both girls would have been soaked to the bone from the short walk from the carriages to the castle if it hadn't been for Stephanie's water repelling charms. Both girls were in 7th year and had been friends since before Hogwarts. Both were also from the United States, New Orleans Louisiana to be exact, the Voodoo capital of the World. Rayne was 5"7 with blonde hair down to the small of her back and emerald green eyes. She was in Gryffindor house, played chaser for the Quidditch team and had excellent grade levels in most subjects, especially Astronomy and Transfiguration, but Potions often gave her trouble, and she hated Herbology (Rayne had never coped well with plants.) Stephanie was 5"5, with dark brown hair that stretched down to her shoulders and large steely gray eyes. She, like Rayne, played for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, as a seeker and as Quidditch Captain. Stephanie's favorite subjects were Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, and she had above average grades in every subject except for History of Magic and Divination (she believed it was a load of rubbish)(she also had a rather cynical and logical father)

"Hey chiquititas," called a voce behind them. A second later, each girl felt an arm go around their waits. A wide grin immediately spread across Stephanie's face, and she spun around and put her arms around the boy to whom the arms belonged, putting her face close to his face.

"Hola senior, cómo sean usted, son usted emocionó acerca del año escolar nuevo" said Stephanie in a low voice that was probably supposed to make her sound sexy but only succeeded in making her sound like she had something caught in her throat.

"Huh?" replied Alastor Moody. Alastor was a bit taller than Rayne, very thin; with black hair that was cut to about the middle of his face (it was very messy). Though he was normally fair skinned, Alastor had gotten quite a tan that summer.

"j'espère que vous n'obtient rien a logé dans votre nez comme la dernière fois nous étions à une fête, vous paraissez surtout beau ce soir" said Rayne in French pushing Stephanie out of the way and giving him a kiss. Rayne and Alastor had been going out since their fifth year, but Alastor had always been flirty with Stephanie, too.

"I don't know what that means but it I liked it" he replied to Rayne giving her another kiss.

"So Plastor my main man how was your summer?" asked Stephanie. At this they both hugged him.

He grinned at his old nickname, then spied Tom Riddle walking in their general direction.

Alastor, deciding he would try to I'm press tom, said,"What can I say?" as Tom and a few of his friends passed, "the ladies love me." At this, Stephanie promptly broke away from him and hit him in the back of the head.

"Sure they do," said Tom smiling, "hey Steph," he said winking at her.

"What's up Tom?" she said giving him a high five. Tom was Alastor's height with black eyes and straight black hair that came down to his nose. He was considered a "heartthrob" by most of the girls in school. He was Head Boy, the Slytherin Quidditch team captain, and Seeker. Everyone, except for Stephanie, knew that Tom had a huge crush on her, and apparently that crush became bigger Stephanie joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Apparently he had even told Alastor that he had a "thing" for female Quidditch players (much to the amusement of Alastor)

After Stephanie, Rayne and Alastor had caught up with some old classmates, they went to their house tables. Soon the sorting of the first years started and (Alastor and Stephanie's favorite part of going back to school) the feast.

"So Rayne, you gonna hit it off with Alastor this year."

"Stephanie...we have been hitting it off for the past few years now," said Rayne.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and said, "Never mind. Anyway, tomorrow Alastor and I have planned this..."

"Oh no, I will not take part in your little pranks. Last time it got you both a month of detention over the summer. Plus I am a prefect and I have a reputation to uphold."

As Rayne was saying this Stephanie was making cross-eyed faces, mouthing her words, and making her hand move up and down like a mouth. So she was basically mocking Rayne.

"Stop it. You know I'm right."

"Oh Rayne, Rayne, Rayne. I don't think you are right in the least. I just think you need to loosen up."

"I am plenty loose."

"...compared to an air tight, vacuum sealed container you are."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really."

"I bet I could do anything as 'loose' as you."

"No problem. Just eat your meal as I do."

"You must be crazy."

"Yes. What's your point?"

"I have seen you eat before Stephanie. I have known you since we were five. When you eat everyone sitting next to you gets drenched with food."

"Then why do you sit next to me at every meal?"

"I put a shield charm on myself."

Stephanie's mouth hung open as she looked at Rayne in bewilderment.

"My god you are being a git...oh god I am starting to talk like a British person." Stephanie then smacked her forehead with her palm of her hand.

Rayne grinned, "This school is rubbing off on you Steph."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everyone in the Great Hall turned to look in Stephanie's direction. Everyone (except for the first years) knew Stephanie's voice. Rayne, who was sitting right next to Stephanie, blushed and scooted down in her seat. When Stephanie had heard the hall get quiet, she had looked around to find everyone staring at her. She grinned, and waved, leaving the newly sorted first years were thoroughly confused, but everyone else just shook their head, and went back to eating.

"Was that really necessary?!" Rayne whispered harshly at Stephanie.

"Yes it was, I wanted you to feel how strongly I was about me talking like I am from Brittan."

"Well what's wrong with being from Brittan?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing. I am sure that it's wonderful to be British."

"Well then why are you freaking out?"

"I ain't from Brittan." Stephanie said this with a country accent and Rayne rolled her eyes.

"One day the whole eye rolling thing is going to get you in trouble." Rayne rolled her eyes again and Stephanie flicked a piece of food at her for it. The piece of food, which happened to be potato salad (Stephanie hated potato salad), landed right between Rayne's eyes.

"Stephanie!"

"Yes?"

"Why did you do that?!"

"Well I thought you liked potato salad."

"Yes I do, but not when it's on my face!"

"Now Rayne, I distinctly remember you saying that you liked potato salad on you face, especially when it's right between you eyes." Stephanie snickered at the last part.

Rayne groaned in frustration, "I swear Stephanie sometime you act like a child!"

"Why thank you Rayne I don't think any one has ever said anything so sweet to me."

Rayne groaned again then set about trying to get the potato salad off of her head. To her dismay, she found it wouldn't come off, and it covered about ¾ of her forehead. She looked around and saw Stephanie grinning at her.

"What did you do?" Rayne's voice was low and deadly.

"Nothing," replied Stephanie her grin becoming even wider.

"Stephanie, tell me now before I hex you until next week!"

"Well if you must know I put a sticking charm that doesn't wear off for another four hours."

Rayne stared at her. She didn't say anything, but Stephanie could tell she was fuming.

"Let's just try to get through the feast without me murdering you," she hissed under her breath.

"Ok." She Stephanie then proceeded to devour her food as if someone was going to try and take it from her. Much to Stephanie's disappointment Rayne had remembered to put the shield charm on.

The rest feast was actually quite boring….as usual. The only exciting things that happened was Stephanie managing to crack Rayne's shield charm momentarily and Alastor sitting at the Slytherin table, chugging down Tabasco sauce for money. He managed to entirely drain three eight ounce bottles before he almost got a detention from one of the more strict teachers, although the majority of the faculty thought that the performance as quite amusing.

Later that night, once the feast had ended and everyone left the Great Hall, Stephanie and Rayne found Alastor in front of the entrance hall moaning and groaning. He was a green color which made Stephanie go off into fits of laughter rolling around on the floor, but Rayne on the other hand who was more paranoid then Stephanie (and much more mature), started giving him a lecture about how he shouldn't gamble, he needed to see the nurse, and that he should be more health conscience. Of course Alastor didn't hear a word she said because of Stephanie screaming "I… I can't breathe!" which was probably true. Then Alastor pointed out to Rayne that there was something on her head. She responded through gritted teeth with:

"Don't remind me."

Stephanie suddenly stopped laughing when she felt two hands pull her up. For a second, she didn't know what was going on, mainly because she was stunned from the laughing and because the hands were bigger than Alastor's, which confused her. When she was standing up on her feet, she saw that Professor Quinn Grindelwald was the one holding her up. A few fifth year Ravenclaw girls passed them giggling and muttering about how the Charms professor was "fine" as Stephanie had heard them put it. In fact, Professor Quinn Grindelwald wasn't bad in the looks department, actually he was very handsome, but Stephanie and Rayne had never really paid any attention to his looks. He was tall, about 5'11 with dark blonde hair, and dark green eyes that some of Stephanie's and Rayne's fellow Gryffindors could get "lost" in; he was the charms instructor, deputy headmaster, and head of Slytherin house. He was rather muscular, and he claimed that he used to play in minor Quidditch league, and apparently he had kept his figure.

"What's going on?" asked Professor Grindelwald with a bemused smirk. Stephanie cleared her throat to reply but Alastor stepped in front of her, cutting her off.

"I just told her a really funny joke, sir," he said trying to look innocent, but not doing very well seeing as he was on the verge of tossing his cookies.

"Well it couldn't be that funny," he said, raising his eye at Stephanie and Alastor, but Stephanie took one look at Alastor's sickly face and burst out laughing again.

"Okay, maybe it was that funny" he said, letting his grin become even wider, "just try to be quieter about it, I'm sure the people in China want some sleep, as well as the rest of us."

"Yes, sir" they replied with smirks on their faces, as they made their way back to their common rooms.

"Oh and Miss LaBorde."

"Yes Professor?"

"You've got something on your forehead."

Rayne blushed like mad then said, "Yes sir, I know." The Professor didn't respond to this, he only gave Rayne a confused look. Alastor now knew about the potato salad and the charm, so he and Stephanie proceeded to bust out laughing.

That night in the Gryffindor common room everyone had their miniature reunions. Friends saw each other for the first time in months and even some old enemies shot the breeze with each other- like Stephanie and Minerva McGonagall, a tall, black-haired, green-eyed witch in Rayne and Stephanie's year. While Stephanie and Minerva were always competing, she and Rayne got on quite well.

They stayed up for about an hour more, hearing snitches of other people's conversations- trips to the beach, new boyfriends, and, in one boy's case, finding out that his boggart was his best friend's mum.

Stephanie, Rayne, and Minerva finally went up to their dormitory, where their warm beds awaited, and Rayne proceeded to look herself in the bathroom trying multiple counter charms until the potato salad came off about forty-five minutes later while Stephanie set up her rather "unique" bed. Every year when she arrived, she immediately began unpacking her trunk until her bed was so laden with pillows and blankets that when she sat on it; she sunk until you could only see the top of her head.

"I don't know how you put up with all of those pillows and blankets," said Rayne smiling.

"Yes it is absolutely ridiculous, pointless, and stupid," said Minerva in a smug tone.

"Damn right, but look who you're talking to. I am ridiculous, pointless and stupid," responded Stephanie in a loud voice.

Minerva responded to this by rolling her eyes.

**A/N: Heylo possible reviewers and/or critics that could get our writing career going. We hope you liked the first chapter of our wondrous story. If you did, please review, if you didn't, review anyway. Also, if you see any grammatical errors be sure to tell Stephanie so she can rub it in Rayne's face. God Damn Rayne and her grammer. Plus the more you review the faster I post and if u don't review I might be tempted to not post so review**

**Rayne: Stephanie, it's grammar**

**Stephanie: (in annoying voice) Stephanie its grammar not grammer.**

**Rayne: There is a comma after Stephanie and it's needs an apostrophe.**

**Stephanie: - ( !#$ &(&$#! #$&&$#!#$&$#**

**Rayne: love you too Stephanie **

**Translations: j'espère que vous n'obtient rien a logé dans votre nez comme la dernière fois nous étions à une fête, vous paraissez surtout beau ce soir vous sont comment faisant je vous ai manqué si beaucoup de je pense que la fête va être grande mais - how are you doing I missed you so much I think the feast is going to be great but**

**I hope that you do not get anything lodged in your nose as the last time we were at a party, you look especially handsome tonight**

**Hola senior, cómo sean usted, son usted emocionó acerca del año escolar Nuevo - Hello sir, how are you, are you excited about the new school year**


	2. Teachers' Pets

**Disclaimer: J.K.R., Freelancer, and we belong to ourselves (or our parents). Got it? Good.**

**A/N: I know what all of you AD/MMers are thinking (WTF where are lemon drop and cat woman right?) (Well maybe not in those exact words, but somewhere a long the lines of that) They're coming, we promise. Either next Chapter or Chapter 4, honest. Probably in Chapter 4, but you never know.**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 2 Teachers' Pets

When Stephanie woke up she yawned and stretched loudly enough to wake up the people in China that Professor Grindelwald had been talking about the previous night. Unfortunately for everyone else in the dorm, it was still dark outside.

"Stephanie?" asked Rayne still asleep, "why are you up so early?"

"Actually, it is 7:45, but it is raining outside," replied Stephanie in a care free voice.

Rayne swore loudly and jumped out of bed, "Stephanie, you do realize that classes start at eight! Right!"

"Yeah"

"You must be kidding it is not 7:45!" screamed Minerva, jumping out of bed.

"Yeah it is, and I don't know why you are still here, Ms. Teacher's pet," spat Stephanie, pulling the covers over her head. At this, everyone shot out of bed and out of the dormitory, so that they wouldn't be late.

"Stephanie we've got to go!" yelled Rayne.

"Was I late a single time last year?" Stephanie asked.

"No."

"Well then, case settled."

Rayne gave her an incredulous look and said, "Suit yourself," replied Rayne trotting out of the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Stephanie appeared just in time for Charms class.

"Bet you didn't have any breakfast," joked Rayne when Stephanie walked in. Rayne knew that Stephanie had never gone a single day in her life without breakfast, and couldn't comprehend how she could have had her full two pieces of toast, two eggs, three slices of bacon, bowl of grits, and glass of orange juice in so little time.

"Actually, it was delicious," replied Stephanie with a smirk.

"But how did you…," stammered Rayne.

"I'm a fast eater"

And for once, Rayne was speechless.

"Hey babe, and babet," Alastor greeted them, strolling into class and planting a kiss on Rayne's cheek.

"Hey Plastor," said Stephanie, not taking her eyes off of the book she was reading.

"Good morning," replied Rayne in a gentler tone. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking," he said, putting his arms around her.

"So Rayne I see you managed to get the potato salad off," commented Alastor. Rayne shot a sideways glance at Stephanie who was snickering at the comment.

"Yes I did. Thank you for noticing."

"How did you get it off? Did you find the counter charm, or did the charm wear off."

"The charm wore off before she found the counter charm," responded Stephanie before Rayne could say anything, "she spent an hour trying to get it off too."

Alastor grinned then said, "Well I'm sure that if the charm would have lasted ten more minutes then you could have gotten it off by yourself."

"More like two more days," mumbled Stephanie. Alastor couldn't help himself and he started to laugh. He kissed Rayne on the cheek and said, "Sorry, so sorry, it's just really funny."

"No it's not, but when I make you bleed in places you didn't even know possible, and hear you screams of pain, that will be funny."

Both Stephanie and Alastor stared at Rayne, who Alastor was still hugging.

"Rayne..." started Stephanie.

"That's a little bit," continued Alastor.

"Sick."

"Corrupted."  
"Demented."

"Manic."

"Psychopathic."

"Twisted."

"Cruel."

"Warped."

"Brutal."

"Malicious."

"Violent."

"Painful."

"Agonizing."

"Malevolent."

"Okay, okay, I get it jeeze. Besides I was just joking."

Both Alastor and Stephanie sighed with relief.

"Good." They both breathed.

"For a minute there I thought you were going emo on us," said Stephanie.

"Yea or goth," added Alastor. Stephanie turned to look at Alastor.

"Alastor they're the same thing."

"They're a little bit different."

"Just a little bit."

Alastor shrugged and rested his chin on Rayne's head.

"Okay, everyone, take your seats! Get off of her, Mr. Moody," shouted Professor Grindelwald over the racket of the students as he entered the room. Alastor turned a bright shade of pink, mumbled something, and sat down. A few girls that always sat in the front of the Charms class giggled. Rayne rolled her eyes and muttered something about the stupid girls, and Alastor had to put his hand over Stephanie's mouth to keep her from bursting out laughing.

When Alastor took his hand off of Stephanie's mouth, she noticed a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye. When she turned her head, Stephanie found that Tom was staring at her. Their eyes met and stayed there for a few seconds, but he turned his head away when Professor Grindelwald started to speak again.

"Today we will be studying how to take very advanced charms off of objects. Ms. DeMattos, if you would please join me?" asked the Professor.

"Yes, Professor," replied Stephanie, setting down her book and walking up to the front of the class. When she got there, he placed a hand on her shoulder, making Tom wince, and took out his wand. The Professor tapped it three times on Stephanie's shoulder, he backed away, and something flashed around her, but then disappeared.

"Mr. Riddle, if you would be so kind," said Grindelwald, gesturing at the front of the room. "Now, Tom," started Grindelwald, "try and touch Ms. DeMattos." Tom nodded, hesitantly put out his hand to touch her shoulder, but was stopped short by an invisible wall.

"What the…,"started Tom, only to be interrupted.

"Now this particular charm isn't very hard, so you might be able to remove it, Mr. Riddle. Go ahead and try," Professor Grindelwald told Tom. Tom pulled out his wand and remained silent for what seemed like an eternity, but finally muttered something under his breath and flicking his wand.

"Try to touch her," whispered Grindelwald, as if he were talking to himself. Once again, Tom reached out his hand, but instead of stopping in midair, it rested on her shoulder, and she felt herself flinch slightly.

"Impressive!" cried Professor Grindelwald, "very impressive, twenty–five points to Slytherin."

Stephanie felt relief when Tom removed his hand and they both took their seats.

"Why did he have to pick on me?" Stephanie whispered to Rayne and Alastor.

"He absolutely adores you, Steph. He is the only teacher at Hogwarts that doesn't favor Minerva," replied Rayne, without paying much attention to what was being said, as she was busy copying notes. Alastor looked over her shoulder and whispered,

"Hey, are you gonna lemme borrow those notes?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Thanks, you're a doll," replied Alastor, grinning

"That's not true," insisted Stephanie.

"Yes it is. I am not going to let him copy me just because he's my boyfriend! A student should always…"

"No, I mean about the teacher situation."

"Oh, really, who else is there?" asked Rayne.

"Well what about Dippet? I mean he can't get over you," said Stephanie trying not to laugh.

"Oh, please."

"Well, it's true! And you know it."

Rayne remained silent for a moment then replied, "Yes, I suppose," Rayne gave a small chuckle. "Looks like we both have our own teachers."

"Shut up," said Stephanie staring at Grindelwald.

"Whatever," mumbled Rayne.

In fact, Stephanie had been very close with Professor Grindelwald in previous years. He just seemed to enjoy her company. She always stayed after class for a lot of reasons- helping him grade papers, cleaning the room, he would help her with homework, or she would just stay to talk with him, but ever since the beginning of the year she hadn't really seen anything of him. Maybe because it was her last year. Would they stay in touch once she had left? _Of course,_ she thought, _we will always see each other, and who knows, maybe I will become a teacher eventually_, Stephanie rather doubted this, for she had always wanted something more adventurous, and she had her heart set on becoming an auror._ Well, maybe Rayne will become a teacher, or even Alastor._ The thought of Alastor becoming a teacher made Stephanie snort with laughter, which earned her a few queer looks.

Rayne had a relationship with a teacher, but it was different than Stephanie and Grindelwald. Rayne and Headmaster Dippet were very close. Armando Dippet was about 6"ft tall and bore a striking recumbence to the movie star Humphrey Bogart. Rayne often went to visit him in his office, and Stephanie actually joined her once or twice- and Stephanie could see why Rayne liked to talk to him so much. They had so much in common, but he was the headmaster and was much busier then any of the teachers (but once he had told Rayne that he dumped most of the paper work on Quinn), and yet he always seemed to make time for Rayne. But all and all, he was still the headmaster and didn't have as much free time as Quinn did, especially not for a student that teachers weren't supposed to have "relationships" with.

And then there was Minerva. Although most people didn't see it, Minerva McGonagall and the transfiguration teacher, Albus Dumbledore, were _very_ close, but Stephanie did see it (Stephanie is weird like that), and after she pointed it out to Rayne, she had started to notice it, too (Rayne was also weird like that but not as weird as Stephanie, therefore she didn't notice it right away). Albus Dumbledore was slightly taller than Quinn but shorter than Armando, he had medium length auburn hair and a short beard. In the beginning, when Stephanie first told her, Rayne thought that Stephanie had lost it (although Alastor argued that Stephanie never had "it"), but sure enough, Minerva would stay after class and do things that normal students didn't do. Stephanie even suspected that they might have kissed, but this was highly improbable, even though Stephanie had almost kissed Quinn last year. She had tripped over a stack of books -those damn books-, and landed on top of Quinn, who was sitting on the floor grading papers (he has a weird habit of sitting in weird places). They had come so close together that Stephanie had been able to feel his minty breath on her face (once in his 7th year Quinn had kissed a girl and she told him that he had bad breath, so now he always chewed a mint). Now, however Stephanie occasionally regretted the fact that they hadn't kissed. Not today, though.

Speaking of being weird, Alastor was also weird, but in a different way. He liked to think that two imaginary little Alastors ran his mind. Really it was just a creative way of using his conscience. The two little Alastors would often get into arguments about things that were on Alastor's mind. One of the Alastors was cynical, mean and a realist, and the other one was often nice, sweet, and had crazy dreams. At the current moment Alastor wasn't paying any attention to the lecture because the Alastors were having an argument. And this is how it when:

Alastor 1: I bet Rayne likes Dipshit better than you

Alastor 2: no she doesn't and don't insult the headmaster that way. I believe his proper name is Dippet.

Alastor 1: whatever, but even if she did like him, she would never admit it. That is probably against some rule of hers

Alastor 2: it's good that she has rule, standards, and limits. At least she is not a slut like some girls in this school

Alastor1: that's true, but some of the sluts are sexy.

Alastor 2: STOP THOSE INPURE THOUGHTS NOW!

Alastor 1: what? All I was saying is some of the slutier girls are cute

Alastor 2: well I as Alastor 2 think that Rayne is cute

Alastor 1: and I as Alastor 1 also think she is cute but I'm just saying

Alastor 2: well if you keep thinking things like that then you are going to loose Rayne

Alastor 1: what? Do you honestly think that because I think that some of the school sluts are cute that I am going to go chase after them?

Alastor 2: it's possible

Alastor 1: you're sick

Alastor 2: as are you

Alastor 1: sicko

Alastor 2: double sicko

Alastor 1: triple sicko

Alastor 2: quadruple sicko

Alastor 1: quintuple sicko

Alastor 2: sextuple sicko

Alastor 1: you do realize that that had the word 'sex' in it didn't you?

Alastor 2: oh god, and just for thinking that you are more sick than me

Alastor 1: YOU SAID IT!

Alastor 2: YOU THOUGHT OF IT!

Alastor 1: I WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF IT IF YOU WOULDN'T HAVE SAID IT!

Alastor 2: I was merely following the order of sickoness...

Alastor 1: whatever

Alastor 2: Yes! I win!

Alastor 1: what? You don't win anything

Alastor 2: I won the argument

Alastor 1: you can't win anything...you so stupid you couldn't read an audio book

Alastor 2: oh no you didn't

Alastor 1: oh I think I did

Alastor 2: you so stupid that you took a ruler to bed with her to see how long you slept

Alastor 1: oh you did not just go there. Yea well you so stupid you put lipstick on your head to make up your mind

Alastor 2: you so stupid that you spent and hour lookin' at an orange juice box because it said "concentrate"

Alastor 1: yea? Well yo mama's so stupid; she climbed over a glass wall to see what was behind it

Alastor 2: she's your mother too

Alastor 1: oh right

Alastor 2: shows how smart you are

Alastor 1: it was an honest mistake, I mean if you are arguing with yourself but yourself is embodied as someone else then you start to think that you aren't arguing with yourself but another person

Alastor 2: you have a point

Alastor 1: I know

Alastor 2: don't you think we should start paying attention to the lesson?

Alastor 1: why? We can use Rayne's notes later and Rayne and Stephanie will fill us in

Alastor 2: yeah, but Rayne said that she wasn't going to let us use her notes. And good students should always...

Alastor 1: yeah, yeah. Good students, shmood shoodents. She says that every time.

Alastor 2: oh. Okay then.

At this moment the real Alastor started banging his head against his desk and screaming, "STOP IT! STOP IT NOW! SHUT UP GOD DAMNIT! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! STOP THE VOICES JUST STOP!" when Alastor had his little outburst, Professor Grindelwald was in the middle of explaining how to use Latin to create spells. He immediately stopped talking to see what Alastor was doing. Alastor's ranting went on for a good 10 minutes before Quinn stopped him.

"Mr. Moody, would you be so kind as to stay after class and tell me why you are yelling curses at the top of your lungs in the middle of my lesson and banging you head against the desk?"

"Yes sir," was all Alastor said.

**A/N: The story will be getting better, we promise. And Stephanie promises to at least _try_ to use the correct punctuation. Please remember to leave us a review!**

**Stephanie: NEVER! DOWN WITH PUNCTUATION UP WITH FLAMBATION**

**Rayne: …**


	3. In Which Books Play A Major Role

**Disclaimer: Jkr Us Freelancer**

**(Stephanie wrote this notice the lack of punctuation)**

**A/N: this Chapter is a little more exciting, but you have to let us know if you like it by reviewing. And even if you don't like it, still review and we could make it better. **

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 3 In Which Books Play a Major Role

Everyone had already cleared out of the classroom except for Stephanie, Rayne, and Alastor.

"Mr. Moody, why did you burst out screaming in the middle of class," Rayne, Stephanie, and Alastor had found over the years that Professor Grindelwald never beated around the bush, and today was no exception.

"Well Sir, you see, there were these voices, inside of my head, and they were arguing, and they wouldn't stop!" Alastor put his hands over his head for emphasis. Stephanie started giggling as quietly as she could and Rayne rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Moody, I think a trip to the hospital wing would do you some good," Quinn got up from his desk and stood in front of Alastor.

"Oh no Professor, I don't think so. These are just two characters that I have created in my mind to represent my conscious. They are kind of like in muggle cartoon, you know the angel and the devil that sit on your shoulders and tell you different things."

"Yes I know what you are talking about, but normally in these cartoons the character is able to block the two out."

"Normally I am too, but today they were going berserk!"

Quinn stared at Alastor, sighed, then said, "Ok just don't let it happen again." Alastor nodded his head vigorously. He went to hospital wing too many times a week in his opinion and his frequent visits were probably starting to annoy Madam Naomi Wilfred, the school nurse.

Rayne turned to Stephanie with a rather evil grin on her face and said, "Are you going to stay after class and talk to Professor Grindelwald?"

"I dunno," replied Stephanie. "No, he's probably very busy," she added, thinking of how she hadn't really seen the Professor lately.

"Oh, come on, Steph," insisted Rayne, "I know that you miss him, even if not in _that_ way."

"What do you mean, in that way," began Stephanie hostilely, "We have strictly platonic relationship, thank you very much!"

Rayne sighed and said, "Stephanie do you even know the meaning of platonic?"

Stephanie retorted by saying, "Uh... yea it means like, a business relationship I guess...with like no uh... what's the right word? Sexual feelings I guess."

Rayne rolled her eyes and became quiet. _I suppose I shouldn't be talking, _she thought, _but what I feel for Armando is just a crush, right? Nothing more, nothing less… I hope._

Rayne was distracted from her musings as the bell rang. "This is your last chance," she warned Stephanie. Stephanie only shrugged, and had begun to walk out of the room when her bag split open. She glanced back at Rayne, who still had an evil grin on her face, and began to pick up her things, which included a bottle of orange juice.

"So that's how she pulls it off," muttered Rayne, looking clearly amused.

"What was that?" Professor Grindelwald asked Rayne.

"Oh, nothing," she replied, walking briskly out of the room.

"Here, let me help you," Professor Grindelwald offered, picking up several of Stephanie's spell books.

"Thanks," Stephanie smiled at him.

"Sooooo… How was your summer?"

"It was okay," replied Stephanie, "Rayne stayed with me for the summer, so things were psychotic."

"All summer?" asked Grindelwald, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, normally we stay in America for half of the summer at our own houses, and then stay half the summer at my house in London, but her mom didn't want her flying during the war."

"Ah, the war. Things don't seem to be going well for the muggles, do they?"

"No," replied Stephanie, "no, they don't. I can only hope that wizards won't have to get involved."

"I sure hope so, but there are rumors that dark wizards are already involved."

"Yeah, I've heard that too, and I think that would be the only reason the rest of the wizarding community should get involved, to get rid of the dark wizards."

"I sure hope that's all we need to do."

"I don't even know if the Ministry has enough aurors to do much."

"They don't, or at least that's what Armando says. He has to know all of the Ministry's inside information because he is headmaster."

"Yes I would expect he would have to know stuff like that."

The war, newly named as World War Two, had been going on ever since Rayne and Stephanie's second year at Hogwarts. The situation was becoming increasingly horrid, yet the wizarding world was still trying to ignore it. Both of them remained silent for the longest moments of their lives until Professor Grindelwald announced:

"I propose a new topic."

"Like what?" asked Stephanie.

"Uh, well… I haven't gotten that far," Professor Grindelwald replied.

"So, how was your summer, Professor?"

"Please," said Grindelwald, smiling, "call me Quinn."

Rayne was walking down a corridor, having just left Alastor in the Entrance Hall. She and Stephanie had Transfiguration next, and Alastor had Potions. As she was walking, she ran into what felt like a wall, dropped all of her books, and fell down.

"Shi..." started Rayne, but stopped herself when she found out what she had run into. When she looked up, Rayne found that she was looking at the one, the only, Headmaster Armando Dippet.

"Excuse me," said Headmaster Dippet, who was paying more attention to a stack of papers than where he was going, and didn't notice who he had run into.

"I'm sorry, Headmaster, it's my fault- I wasn't watching where I was going." At this he looked up from his stack of papers.

"Miss LaBorde! It's nice to see you again. Are you excited about this being your last year?" he asked in a cheerful tone.

"Is that a trick question?" the Headmaster gave a small chuckle.

"Perhaps," he responded with a wink.

"Well, I am excited about my education and my training being completed, but I'm really going to miss this place, and all of the people in it," said Rayne, trying to pick her words carefully.

"Good answer," said the Professor, smiling gently, "but I'm sure that you will not lose touch of your closer friends, like Ms. DeMattos, or Mr. Moody."

"No, I suppose I won't." replied Rayne with a distant expression.

"What are you doing right now? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"No," replied Rayne, "I still have about 45 minutes of break left."

"Well in that case, would you like to have some tea with me?"

"That sounds great."

For once in her life, Rayne was happy that she had run into a teacher.

"Okay. Quinn how was your summer?"

"Don't you have to get to class?"

"No I still have..."she looked at her watch, "forty-five minutes until class."

Stephanie smiled and moved to sit in one of the desks in the front row. Quinn sat in the desk next to hers and summoned two bags of Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans. He handed a bag to her and she started eating.

"I thought the seventh years only had hour length breaks."

"Oh we do, but I promised the Weasley twins I would teach them a new hex."

"Don't get into too much trouble, and don't speak with food in your mouth."

"I can't promise anything mother," she joked. He gave her a stern look, "I'll try my best, but you didn't answer my question. How was your summer?"

"Oh it was...all right."

"How so?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?"

"Yes, and I like my answers detailed as well."

"Really?"

"Yes really."

"Ok at the beginning of the summer I went on a road trip around Scotland."

"Anything interesting happen, and did you go alone?"

"No I went with Armando and Albus."

"So the rumors aren't true," said Stephanie scratching her chin.

"What rumors?"

"Oh nothing really," she started to snicker, "it's just that most of the students think that you, Professor Dippet, and Professor Dumbledore are manufactured robots that only pretend to like each other."

Quinn stared. "That's a new one. I had always thought the big rumor about us, was that we were spies, undercover for the ministry, and Professional wrestlers during the summer."

"Oh that was last year."

"I actually quite liked that one. It made us seem mysterious, strong, and buff." Stephanie snorted then doubled over in laughter, with pieces of Bertie Bots Every Flavored Beans spraying everywhere.

Once they had gotten to Armando's office, he put a cup of tea over the fireplace, which was on the north side of the wall. He summoned a small table and two armchairs facing the fireplace. He summoned two cups, napkins, scones, saucers, and placed them neatly on the table in between the armchairs.

"Why don't you just magically heat up the water?" asked Rayne once she was eating a scone.

"Well you said you weren't going anywhere anytime soon, and I like to put my own touches to the tea."

"Really, your not going to spike it, are you?"

He chuckled and started to eat a scone, "No I prefer to keep my students sober." When he was done with his scone, he summoned a tea pot and pour some powder (probably the tea), and put a few other things into the pot, which Rayne couldn't identify.

He walked back over and sat down in the unoccupied armchair, grabbed another scone, and said, "so Rayne, what do you plan on doing after you graduate."

"I'm not really sure yet, but I have a few options that I could choose from."

"Really, do tell," he said laying his half eaten scone on a napkin that was on the table.

"Well applying to a position at Hogwarts is my number one choice, working with Stephanie as an auror would be second I suppose."

"Ms. DeMattos wants to be an auror?"

"Yes, she is going to die if doesn't become one."

He chuckled, "Her and Mr. Moody seem like the kind that would be aurors."

"Why?" inquired Rayne.

"Most aurors that I know are a bit... odd, but that's why they are so good at their job. It takes a strange person to be an auror. Plus both of them are in pretty good shape from playing Quidditch correct?"

Rayne nodded. Rayne also knew that during the summer Stephanie played on muggle sports teams, and she never walked anywhere, she always seemed to be running. Walking was just too slow for her.

"How many aurors do you know?"

"Oh quite a few," responded Armando picking up his scone and nibbling on it, "half of them are quiet and tend to keep to themselves, the other half are outgoing and love to talk, but they all seem to be able to solve any riddle and look at things from the strangest points of view. Plus they all love coming up with new spells, potions, charms, tactics, etc. Come to think of it I do believe Mr. Riddle would be rather suited for that position," he said scratching his chin. (A/N: Ironic I know)

"Yes, I suppose he would. I can see all three of them working together one day and causing havoc at the Ministry," Rayne snorted, "and Tom ends up having to control them."

Armando smiled, "Yes I can picture that too. It will be funny when Tom looses his composure too. I hear he has quite a temper."

"He probably does. I'm actually a little bit surprised Stephanie and Alastor have provoked him into getting mad yet." _I guess it's because he has a HUGE crush on Steph,_ thought Rayne to herself.

"Well then he must have a good bit of patience."

"Obviously more than me, I yell at those two at least twice a day."

"If I saw as much of them as you do I believe I would do the same." At this point they both reached for the same scone and their hands brushed against each other, causing Rayne to blush like mad. Armando pretended like he didn't notice and let Rayne have the scone. He took the one beside it, leaving one scone left.

"Wow that tea is taking a long time to boil," said Rayne trying to break the awkward silence.

"The fire isn't that big," said Armando. More silence. The silence was killing Rayne.

"So...have there been any detentions yet?" inquired Rayne trying to make conversation.

"It's the first day. No one gets detention on the first day," Armando replied taking a bite of his scone.

"Well you never know," Rayne also took a bite of her scone. "Depending on what kind of hex Stephanie is teaching the twins she might get a detention today."

"Oh dear," said Armando rubbing his temples, "that child is quiet a handful."

"Yes she is," replied Rayne lost in thought.

Soon there was a low whine coming from the tea kettle. It quickly turned into a loud whistle and Armando stood up, walked over to the fire, and poured the water into the tea pot.

"It will be ready in about two minutes," he said sitting back down. He had finished his scone, and Rayne was on the last bite, meaning that there was one scone left.

Rayne finished hers and looked at the last scone. She saw Armando watching her and he said:

"Go ahead take it. I'm not hungry anymore."

"No I couldn't."

"Really its fine. If we need more I will summon more." She took the scone and took a large bite out of it. Because she hadn't gotten out of bed at the right time, she hadn't gotten a proper breakfast (unlike Stephanie), and she was quite hungry.

Two minutes past and neither of them talked. Armando poured the tea into their cups and Rayne lifted hers to her lips to take a sip.

"Ewwww," said Quinn in a rather childish voice, wiping off pieces of Stephanie's snack.

Stephanie continued to giggle, but she managed to keep her mouth shut as she did.

**A/N: THAT WAS A BOREING CHAPTER!**

**Rayne: Stephanie, get over it. Next Chapter: Albus and Minerva!**


	4. Abusing Doors

**Disclaimer: J.K.R, the authors, and Freelancer. **

**(Rayne wrote this)**

**A/N: Finally! Here comes what you've all been waiting for.**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 4

Abusing Doors

"Ms. McGonagall, you are 30 minutes early," said Professor Albus Dumbledore, as Minerva McGonagall strolled into his classroom. He stared at her for a minute and noticed she had changed over the summer. She was certainly taller only about four inches shorter than him so that meant she had grown about tow inches. Her face seemed a bit longer and narrower making her look older. Her hair had gotten darker and a good bit longer as well. All in all, he thought she looked completely beautiful.

She shrugged, walked farther into the classroom and sat down at a desk in the front of the classroom. "I know that, I just… couldn't find anything to do, and I... well…I didn't think it would be a problem if I came a little bit early," she said hesitantly, staring into his bright blue eyes. They twinkled and she felt as if he could read her mind. She studied his face carefully. Over the summer he had gotten a bit of a tan so that his skin was a golden color instead of paper white. He had let his beard grow a bit more and she thought that his auburn hair was shinier, and fuller. He had cut it so that it wasn't as long but it still covered his ears. In her opinion he looked very handsome.

He hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Well, I suppose not, maybe you can help me prepare for the class. At any rate, it's nice to see you again."

_All right_, thought Minerva. She looked a bit relieved, although she new he wouldn't have turned her away. He first asked her to copy notes onto the blackboard, then to file some papers and make a folder for every student in the filing cabinet, while talking the entire time.

"I know you're probably sick of this question by now," he said, "but how was your summer?"

"Your right; I wish people would stop asking me that, but I expect it will be asked one hundred more times, so I guess I better get used to it. It went pretty well, considering the war and everything that is going on. I went to a beach in Spain, and it was really beautiful."

"That must have been lovely, but as many languages I speak fluently I have trouble with Spanish. What about you how is your Spanish?"

"I know a bit enough to order food in a restaurant or something but I stumble a lot."

"Well did you know that Ms. DeMattos speaks fluent Spanish, French, and Italian is what I understand, and Ms. LaBorde speaks French and German. Although I also hear that they both can read and translate Latin." Minerva flinched at Stephanie's name, so Dumbledore decided to change the subject.

"So… Do you like cabbage?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry; just trying to make conversation. Do you?"

"It depends. I don't like steamed cabbage, but I like smothered cabbage."

"Why is that?"

"I just like the flavor better."

"Interesting," he said rubbing his chin.

"Can we change the subject? This is disturbing."

He smiled, "Of course, I haven't seen you all summer and we are talking about cabbage."

"Well, for starters, since when do you call me Ms. McGonagall?"

This stopped the Professor in his tracks. Ever since her second year, he had always called her Minerva when no one was around.

"I..," he stammered, "just… it is automatic... I'm sorry, Minerva." He said, putting emphases on her name.

"That's better," she said with a smile, and she moved over to him. "Professor Dumbledore I…" but she was cut off.

"Since when have you called me Professor Dumbledore?"

That was also true. She had called him Albus ever since he had started calling her Minerva.

"Okay, Albus, how do you feel about the Quidditch cup this year? Ravenclaw got a new seeker, keeper, chaser, and they look better that last year, and apparently Hufflepuff had two knew beaters that are amazing a aiming bludgers, but you know people are all ready making bets on who is going to get the cup. And those four idiots Stephanie DeMattos, Alastor Moody, and those Weasley twins Gregory and Jonathan are running the whole operation. Honestly, I don't understand how that girl made it in to Gryffindor- it is a disgrace to all of us." She stood up her hands balled into fists and she had a frustrated look on her face.

He was about to scold her for being so rude but he held his tongue, "Yes it will be quite interesting this year, and Gryffindor has a good chance of winning, especially since they have you, Minerva." He said winking at her.

She blushed and looked at her feet. Minerva was a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Thank you, but we all know who the best flyer is and no one else ever gets any credit because of..." she ran a hand through her hair and let out an exasperated sigh. She knew she probably sounded jealous and insecure but she didn't care.

"Minerva, honestly she isn't that bad, and just because she is good at things doesn't mean that you don't get any recognition. She isn't my favorite student, she isn't head girl, and she doesn't have nearly as beautiful eyes as you," he said walking over to her, and putting his arms around her. By now she was furious over this stupid feud with Stephanie.

"That's just a matter of opinion- lots of people think she is that prettiest girl in school."

"How do you know that? And besides, I'll bet just as many people think you're the prettiest girl in school," _me being one of them_ he thought.

"No they don't, and as for being head girl, I'm sure the teachers thought that she had too much to do being Quidditch captain. But you say I'm your favorite student- that's a bonus," she said, cheering up a bit.

"Well, none of that matters because you are much better than her, and you need to stop putting yourself down." When he said this, he couldn't help but think of all of the things that Stephanie would do to him if she had heard him say that. "And she isn't perfect at all. She has that shortest temper of anyone I have ever met."

"Thank you- I feel better," replied Minerva softly "Good," he said walking over his desk and sitting down. She followed him and sat on the edge of his desk.

"So, Albus, what are we doing today in class?" she asked moving very close to him, and she rested her head on his chest.

Hundreds of ideas flooded into his head. Some of them he didn't even want to picture, but some of them he so longed to fulfill, and would have been fulfilled if it weren't for the loud crashing noise and the pieces of wall flying every which way.

Suddenly Stephanie DeMattos came flying through the door and hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. She got up laughing and dusting herself off. Then Gregory and Jonathan Weasley came through the door with grins on their faces and their wands out. As were all of the Weasley family, Gregory and Jonathan were tall and gangly with fiery red hair, bright green eyes, and freckles galore.

"Wow! That was awesome!" exclaimed Gregory.

"Oops," said Jonathan.

"That was so much fun. I love to fly- maybe we can do it again but have a landing spot," said Stephanie in growing excitement.

"What is the meaning of this!" yelled Professor Dumbledore.

The three of them stopped in their tracks, their grins disappearing from their faces. They turned around to look at the seething Professor then exchanged glances, and Stephanie was the first to speak.

"Sorry Professor. We were trying to teach Jonathan a hex, and we were gonna test it on me. Well he got it wrong and… ka-boom." she waved her hand towards the mess that had once been Dumbledore's classroom Dumbledore just stared at them, and Minerva looked so furious that Albus had to put his hand on her shoulder.

"We'll report to detention tonight," said Gregory dully, and the other two nodded their heads, but Dumbledore still didn't speak.

"We'll report to detention the next night a well," added Jonathan.

"Come on, guys, before we get chopped to bits or something" whispered Stephanie.

"Okay, we'll be going now," said Jonathan, and they started to make their way to the non- existent door, but they didn't make it.

"Wait," said Dumbledore in a stern voice.

"Shit," mumbled Stephanie, and the boys cursed under their breath as well. They all stopped walking, but didn't turn around.

"I don't think two detentions will cut it," he said.

Stephanie spun around her eyes wide with indignity, "What! Why not! Its not like it can't be cleaned up in ten seconds," she said waving her wand, and instantly all of the dust wood and everything else disappeared with a brand new looking door. She gave Dumbledore a look that said, _"See two detentions are just fine."_

"It's not the door! It's the fact that you broke it! It's the fact that you were performing dangerous hexes and thinking about doing it again!" yelled Minerva now red in the face, her eyes bulging in fury.

"You're not the teacher and you need to shove it up your big stuck up..."

"That's enough, both of you! Now Stephanie, Minerva is right, even if she could have been more polite, you need to be taught a lesson not to perform dangerous spells, to respect school property and be more worried about your own safety. Therefore I am assigning you three months of detention with myself."

All three of their mouths dropped, and Stephanie glared at Dumbledore so fiercely that after a few minutes he looked at his shoes. Stephanie started to walk toward the professor probably to punch, kick or in any other way physically hurt him, but the twins both grabbed one of her arms.

"Am I clear?" he asked, looking up and avoiding eye contact with Stephanie. Gregory and Jonathan mumbled what sounded like a yes but Stephanie, jerked her arms out of the twin's grasp and spun around walking furiously out of the room with Gregory and Jonathan at her heels.

Dumbledore sighed and sat down beside his desk. He sighed and put his head in his hands. He glanced up at Minerva who had a smug smirk on her face. I'm his mind (and Minerva's) Stephanie and the twins deserved it and they would probably never do anything like this again (although that was highly doubtful), but he also knew it was pretty unfair. Also if he had given them anything else say a week's detention, Minerva would have become furious with him, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Suddenly there was a loud _BANG_ and he dove under his desk to avoid being killed by pieces of wood. Minerva dove next to him and he shielded her with his body. When the dust had settled and everything was quiet, he ran out to the corridor.

"Stephanie DeMattos!" he yelled, but she was long gone.

BOOM!

"What was that!" asked Headmaster Dippet almost spilling his tea. Rayne, on the other hand, was perfectly calm.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it were Stephanie and the Weasley twins. Stephanie said she was going to teach them a new hex."

"Oh good lord. It's the first day back and that child has already blown up something."

"That's Stephanie, but at least it's for educational purposes this time," said Rayne taking a sip of tea, "wow! This is really good, what did you put in it?"

"Actually it's an old family blend and…"

"Armando!" cried professor Dumbledore and he ran through Dippet's office, "Stephanie DeMattos-

"Let me guess," started Armando, "permission to kill?"

"Well yes, she just blew up my door-twice!" Dippet stared at him for a moment, but Rayne just kept sipping tea.

"You're... joking?" he managed to choke out.

"No, and the second time she did it on purpose!" That surprised Rayne, who suddenly had to concentrate on not choking on her tea.

_I am going to find her and kill her_ thought Rayne. "Um Professor Dippet if you will excuse me," said Rayne rising from her chair and making her way hastily to the door.

"It's been nice talking with you, Ms. LaBorde," he called after her, but before she was out she heard him say, "Don't worry, Albus, I will take care of Ms. DeMattos."

"Oh my God! Stephanie, you have officially lost it! We are all going to be expelled, and oh my God!" screamed Gregory Weasley when they were a safe distance away from Dumbledore's office.

"But you have to admit, Gregory, that was awesome, and it took guts," said his twin brother, Jonathan Weasley, who was grinning like mad.

"Well, he got what was coming to him. I mean, can you believe the way he stood up for that snob! I swear, if he wasn't a teacher I'd bash in his head! I'd do worse than blow up his friggin' door!" screamed Stephanie, her Louisiana accent kicking in.

"You know, Stephanie, Minerva hates Americans for some reason. She thinks they are crazy and undignified or something like that," said Jonathan while Gregory nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll show her undignified!" raged Stephanie, "and I don't know why she hates Americans- and for some reason she doesn't hate Rayne, if it weren't for us the British would be in even worse shape in the war."

"Well Rayne is practically English she has the accent and she is more civilized than you at times, but I have to agree with you about the war," said Gregory. Stephanie shot him a nasty glance.

As Rayne made her way up a staircase that lead to the Gryffindor tower, she though of all of the things she could do to Stephanie. First she wouldn't let her play Quidditch for a while, take away all of her books so she would be really bored, and not let her play piano or guitar and threaten that she would smash Stephanie's guitar to little bits. If it was legal, Stephanie might have married that guitar. She carried it everywhere with her. In her first year when she had brought it to classes and teachers had told her not to bring it she was depressed for about a month, but she got better when one day she was practicing a new song she had wrote and just about the entire Great Hall and bursted out in applauding. Now she brought it to Quidditch practice and meals when she felt like it.

"Yeah, yeah, that will be good. Once I threaten the guitar she'll do what I want her to," said Rayne to herself

"You know Lemon Drop is going to get Dipstick to look for us," said Gregory as they were hastily making their way to the common room.

"Yeah, I know. I've been thinking about that, and I think we can either avoid him until the end of the year with a series of complicated plains that are almost impossible to follow, or we could make a highly intelligent argument, therefore getting under Lemon Drop's skin and getting Dippet to believe us, but both plans will take a lot of effort."

"I say we go with the argument. I love to get under people's skin and annoy them, and the fact all three of us like to argue is a major bonus," said Jonathan in an excited voice.

"Yeah, I like that one too. What about you Gregory?"

"I'm all for it, but I think we should keep the other plan as a back up."

"Okay, we'll do that," said Stephanie, and they got to work.

About thirty minutes after they started, Rayne burst into the common room. "Dippet and Dumbledore are looking for you and they are ready to rip off your heads, and you deserve it you idiots!"

"We figured as much, but I had suggested that they wanted to rip out our internal organs and feed them to the giant squid," said Stephanie, not looking up from what she was doing, "but we have a plan, and it's going to work."

"Well it better be pretty good because it sound like you almost killed Dumbledore in the second explosion."

A small smile made its way onto Stephanie's face.

"It's not funny! They are ready to do drastic things!"

"And you aren't?"

"Don't push it."

"Sorry, I know, ok. Have you guys memorized it?"

"Yep," the Weasley twins said in a chorus.

"Well what are you going to do?" asked Rayne now confused. They sounded like they knew what they were doing which had surprised her.

"We are going to tell the truth," said Stephanie in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But that will only get you into more trouble," stated Rayne.

"Not the way we plan on telling it," said Gregory.

Rayne thought for a moment before saying, "but if you tell the truth differently that's basically lying."

"Like Stephanie said, we are going to tell the truth, but we're just going to make it sound like we didn't do anything wrong."

"Look we have this whole speech planned and each of us knows what to do," cut in Stephanie, "you just have to keep your mouth shut and don't mess us up," she added looking straight at Rayne.

"Fine but I think they are gonna be here soon." And she was right, for just then both professors burst through the doors.

"Why, Professors, hello."

"You've got a lot of explaining to do, Miss DeMattos," said Dippet. Neither of them were the kind of people that lost their tempers, unlike Stephanie, and they were never hotheaded like Stephanie, but both looked very angry.

"And I assure you, that I can explain everything. If you would let me…"

"No. Come with me, all of you," said Professor Dippet. Stephanie looked at the twins. That wasn't supposed to happen. Dippet was supposed to let them explain and they would get off the hook, but where was he taking them? The trio, joined by Rayne, hesitantly followed him to Professor Dumbledore's classroom.

Gregory leaned over to Stephanie.

"Weren't we supposed to be in class like an hour ago?" he whispered.

"I've postponed classes," said Professor Dumbledore.

"Oh."

"Guys," said Stephanie talking so low that they could hardly hear her, "be as pitiful and sorry as possible, but put up a good fight." They both nodded their heads.

When they arrived at Professor Dumbledore's office, Professor Dippet spoke.

"Do you see that?" Dippet asked pointing at the blown up door.

"Yes, Sir."

"Did you or did not do that?"

"Sir, I will not deny that I did in fact do that, but if you would let me…"

"Then you admit that you… exploded Professor Dumbledore's door?"

"Sir, if you would…"

"Answer the question!"

Stephanie looked like she was going to rip Dippet's head off, and she probably would have if each of the twins hadn't put a hand on her shoulder. Then Gregory whispered in her ear, "Stephanie, you've always had a way with words. If you don't loose your temper we could get us out of this." So she calmed down and tried her best not to look at both men with hatred.

"Sir, it was an accident."

"But isn't it true that you blew it up a second time, on purpose?"

"Yes, but Professor Dumbledore was showing extreme favoritisms towards a student that hates me, and that lead him to deal out unjust punishment."

"That is not true!" cried Professor Dumbledore.

"Oh, yes it is!" said the twins in unison.

"Well, what was your punishment?" asked Dippet.

"Three months detention!" said all three of them at the same time.

Dippet turned and looked at Albus, who was staring at the ground.

"You gave them three months detention because Ms. McGonagall doesn't… uh… like Ms. DeMattos?"

"No! I gave them three months detention because I wanted to teach them a lesson that you don't go blowing up doors by using dangerous hexes and to respect school property!"

"But guess who said that first!" protested Jonathan.

Dippet was still staring at Dumbledore with a state of shock on his face.

"Um... Professor Dippet? May I clean this up?" asked Stephanie.

Dippet nodded his head in return and seemed to snap back into reality. With a wave of her wand, Stephanie restored the door for the second time that day, and then glanced at Rayne, who was now issuing a death glare on Stephanie and the Twins.

Dippet turned to the four of them and they all looked at the floor, except for Rayne who was still issuing her death glare on Stephanie.

"You three will report to detention with me for three days."

Stephanie looked up at him. Three days of detention with the headmaster. Not bad... but then Stephanie thought for a minute. Three days of detention with her best friend's crush.

**A/N: Ha-ha! Wasn't that a great chapter! Don't worry there will be more MM/AD action to come later believe us… we would know.**


	5. Boys and Girls

**Disclaimer: don't sue we own nothing. (Except for us. And we are not even sure about that because of our parents.)**

**A/N: We just kinda winged this chapter so if it is really strange, just play along.**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 5

Boys and Girls

Stephanie was sitting in the library next to Rayne, and she had that feeling that your get when you are being watched. She was currently trying to get her charms homework done but not succeeding. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts about the day before to concentrate. The whole business about blowing up doors, detention, and hating Minerva was just too extraordinary to not think about. The whole thing seemed like a million years away now. She wasn't as angry, but she was pretty pissed. She officially hated Dumbledore now and was set on making his like a living hell, but now she liked Dippet better and figured he was a pretty good guy. The twins and Alastor had also agreed that they hated Minerva and Dumbledore and were currently setting numerous pranks that would humiliate them to no end.

"Hey Steph guess what," said Rayne with a rather evil smirk.

Stephanie snapped out of her little day dream and asked, "What?"

"Guess who's staring at you...with a passion."

"What?"

"Tom Riddle."

"Are you kidding me!" said Stephanie perhaps a bit too loudly, and then promptly bursted out laughing.

"SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" hissed the librarian.

"Stephanie be quiet!" whispered Rayne in a harsh tone, "great, now he's coming over here! And stop laughing."

But Stephanie couldn't stop. Stephanie had a weird sense of humor, or maybe it was just the fact that Tom never seemed pleased with any of the girls he went out with, or that he never wanted a girlfriend, girls would just ask him and he would say yes. Perhaps it was that. Rayne sure couldn't figure out why, and she probably didn't want to know why either. After few minutes later, after trying to look casual and inconspicuous Tom finally got to their table. Mistake. Stephanie only laughed louder and harder which received even more "ssshhhhhhhh" from the librarian. Tom looked at Rayne for help, but Rayne just shook her head, stood up, and said:

"Steph, I'm starved. I'm going to go meet Alastor and grab some dinner."

"O...kay," said Stephanie throwing a glance at Tom, who was sitting in the seat opposite of Stephanie, absorbed in his book. As soon as Rayne was out of the library, Tom looked up, and started to speak.

"Hey, Steph. So... what are you reading?" he asked.

"A book," Stephanie replied.

"Oh, are you enjoying it?"

"Eh...it's a text book. I'm trying to get some work done."

"Oh, well sorry for disturbing you," he started to stand up but Stephanie held up a hand signaling him to stay.

"No my mind is on other things, I wasn't really doing anything."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence that was broken by Stephanie saying, "Well I think I'll be going."

"Wait!"

She stopped, turned around, and looked expectantly at him.

"Yes?"

"I… uh... wanna hang out for a while? We can do a little one on one Quidditch, or just talk."

"Uh... sure, I'd love to"

_Yes, _thought Tom.

_Oh boy. What have I gotten into? _Thought Stephanie nervously.

Rayne was now walking around the grounds having just given Alastor a French lesson in an outside courtyard. Bad idea. Alastor had missed pronounced and massacred the language, and Rayne had finally given up when Alastor couldn't bribe her with any more chocolate. He didn't actually have the chocolate in question, but planned on getting it in Hogsmead. After she abandoned the lesson, Rayne was craving chocolate so much that she conjured a box of chocolate for herself, wondering why Alastor hadn't done this. She was shoveling down the last pieces of chocolate when she ran into what felt like wall. Again. Unfortunately, that made her drop the last pieces of chocolate and smush them.

"GOD DAMN IT! MY CHOCOLATE!" there was silence for a minute as Rayne tried to save the poor chocolate pieces from cold, hard ground. Then she heard a small chuckle.

"We have to stop meeting like this," said a voice from above.

"Huh?" asked Rayne looking up and squinting. The sun was obscuring her vision so she couldn't very well see the person that had spoken.

She heard another chuckle and a hand stuck out to help her stand up. She took it and pulled herself up.

"Crap," she said under her breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, Headmaster, it is a bad habit I have."

"What, swearing? I personally couldn't care less if my students swore, although I am not overjoyed when they swear at me, or when they swear at the top of their lungs over smashed pieces of chocolate."

"Well, now you owe me three pieces of double caramel chocolate, with whipped cream, almonds, peanut butter, and white chocolate."

"…you go all out, don't you? And, where does Alastor Moody come into this?"

"Let's just say Alastor needs more than me to teach him French."

"Vous parlez frech?" he asked.

"Oui" she responded.

"Ferait vous aime me joindre pour une promenade autour du lac? j'ai le chocolat."

"Oui," she agreed, smiling. He offered her his arm, and they walked towards the lake.

Tom and Stephanie had just spent the last two hours catching a snitch repeatedly. Stephanie had won most of the time but she let him win a few times so he wouldn't feel too bad. Now it was eight o'clock and the moon was rising casting a beautiful reflection on the lake and giving off silver light.

"So..." said Tom as he and Stephanie walked out of the castle and towards the edge of the forbidden forest.

Stephanie didn't hear him. _Damn it,_ she thought, _this is going to be the longest night of my life. I should have never agreed to this._

"Stephanie?"

"Huh? What? Yeah, I'm here. Did you say something?"

"No, never mind," he said. He moved a little closer to her so that the back of their hands where touching. Stephanie looked down at their hands and watched as Tom slide his hand over hers. She was about to jerk away, but decided it would be fun to egg this on a little. She leaned her head against his shoulder, and he put an arm around her.

That night was particularly cold, so Stephanie didn't mind the extra warmth that Tom was giving off. It was actually a lot of fun to hug him; he seemed like a huggable sort of person. Stephanie found that it was very comforting for him to hold her, and that he gave off a nice scent. He smelled rather like chocolate and strawberries with sugar. Then, Stephanie got to thinking. _If he is letting me lean against him and hold his hand at the potential of any random person seeing us and the rumor that we are going out spread all over the school he must really like me, _and then it hit her. Like last year when Alastor had plowed through the great wall with a manticore that turned out to be fake, or the time she played "extreme" snowball fight with the entire fifth year, or even when Rayne had knocked Stephanie out with a beater's club because she was projecting the words "Rayne and Alastor sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage. That's not all that's not all, I saw the baby drinking alcohol" in bright red letters into the sky. _Someone could see us!_ She gently pulled herself away from him and he gave her hand a reluctant squeeze.

"What is it?" he asked, putting on his sweetest voice.

"I... just don't think we are ready for this," lied Stephanie. He must have sensed that she didn't want anyone to see them, and Stephanie was just expecting him to agree with her but that's not how Tom Riddle works, as she soon found out.

"Oh I think I am," he said. He leaned in close to her and he wrapped his arms around her. She felt his lips crash against hers, and tried, even though she knew that it wouldn't work, to pull away. He snuck his hands down her sides and messaged her waist for a moment before snaking his hands into her robes, and running his fingers along her body, touching a bit too much. He pushed his way into her mouth with his tongue and roamed freely. She was now trying to push him away even more, but Tom, however, took no notice. She felt him gently squeeze her sides, his finger tips burning her skin. He relished the soft creamy feeling of her skin, and pressed himself against her even more. Tom never wanted to kiss to end, but unfortunately for him, Stephanie had studied martial arts for seven years and was close to a black belt. Plus, Stephanie had a head strong mother, who told Stephanie that if any boy invaded her "personal space" and she didn't want him to, to kick his ass. Her mother hadn't minced words either. That was exactly how she put it. And that was exactly what Stephanie did. First she kneed him in the stomach hard enough to knock the wind out of him. This loosed his grip and she took his arm and twisted it behind his back at an awkward angle, and grabbed his other arm so that she had him pinned, and pushed him against a tree.

"Guess you shouldn't have done that," she hissed in his ear.

"Guess I shouldn't have, but you can't blame me for trying. I mean I've wanted to do that with you ever since our second year, but you just wouldn't take any of the hints." He choked out. He struggled for a minute, and Stephanie decided that she had made him suffer enough, so she let him go. But she had one more trick up her sleeve.

Tom rubbed his sore arms and stomach, "Hope I still have a chance with you," he murmured under his breath, but loud enough for Stephanie to hear him.

"Maybe," said Stephanie with a sly smile. Then she leaned up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek. She knew this would confuse him to no end and Stephanie loved playing mind games. He touched the place on his cheek where she had kissed him, and stared at her in bewilderment. Then she walked off towards the castle, leaving him to think about everything that had just happened.

Alastor, Gregory, and Jonathan were in the possible worst position that they could have been in. They were in a broom closet that was conveniently located across from Professor Dumbledore's classroom but unfortunately the broom closet was made to house brooms and not three seventh year boys. Dumbledore and Minerva had been talking in Dumbledore's classroom since dinner, and dinner had been a while ago. In order to fit in the closet, there had to be a good bit of squeezing. Alastor was currently smashed against a wall with Gregory smashed against him on the other side and Jonathan was sitting on top of both of them.

"I think I'm loosing circulation to my head," said Alastor as Jonathan shifted to a position that it made it hard for Alastor to breathe.

"Oh sorry Alastor," Jonathan shifted again so that he was sitting on Alastor's left leg and Gregory's right leg at the same time.

"Better," mumbled Alastor, "but still painful."

"You really gotta lay off the chocolate bro," said Gregory.

"Well, excuse me."

"What! Jonathan, you better not have ripped one!"

"What, oh, ew no I didn't."

"Like I said, lay off the chocolate."

"Gregory, chocolate doesn't make you fart."

"How do you know that?" if it wouldn't have been so dark in the broom closet, Gregory would have seen the strange looks his two friends were giving him.

"Um...oh gods! What the hell! Jonathan I advise you to move you hand," said Alastor in an annoying tone.

"Whu? Oh...EW! ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew."

"Well you don't have to wipe your hands on my face," said a now very annoyed Jonathan.

It was about eight o'clock (when the Gryffindor common room was most crowded), and Minerva McGonagall still hadn't come out of Dumbledore's class room. The boys had been in there for well over two hours and they were thinking about giving up just when Minerva and Albus opened the door.

"Okay Minerva, I'd better walk you to your classroom just to be on the safe side. I don't want you getting in trouble on account of me."

"Fine with me," she said and they both turned and started walking out the door.

"Okay, they should trip the spell as soon as they are out of the classroom," whispered Alastor.

Suddenly both Albus's and Minerva's outer clothing vanished leaving Albus in boxer shorts, and Minerva in a tank top and briefs.

"What the-?" but Minerva was cut off when her feet started sinking into the floor.

"Oh my god! What's going on!" asked a now frantic head girl.

"I don't know but I left my wand in the classroom," said Albus.

"Great..." muttered Minerva.

But Albus's wand wouldn't have been any help. Their clothes had been transported to a corner of the Gryffindor common room along with all other of their belongings, so he wouldn't have had it anyway. Within a few seconds the floor started to move, and something green and sticky was poured on their heads. A couple of seconds later they were standing in the Gryffindor common room, still rooted to the floor. Just about the entire Gryffindor house was staring at them in awe. No one dared move. Then out of nowhere, bright purple feathers fell from the ceiling sticking to Minerva and Albus. There was earsplitting laughter as a stiff Alastor, Gregory, and Jonathan slipped into the common room unnoticed. They high fived each other and surveyed their handy work. Everything had gone perfectly. They put on innocent faced and walked up to the two prankees (Minerva and Albus).

"Whoa, what happened to you?" asked Alastor dipping his finger in the goo dripping from the transfiguration Professor.

"What does it look like!" screeched Minerva.

Suddenly the last person that Minerva wanted to see at that moment walked into the room.

"Oh...My...God...ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" Stephanie walked over to the twins and Alastor holding her stomach, her face turning red, and tears streaming down her face.

"This is classic!" she chocked out between laughs.

"I know you did this!" screamed Minerva.

Stephanie managed to say between laughs, "As if! I wish I could have come up with this! Besides I'm in enough trouble as it is, and do you honestly think I would be laughing this hard if I knew this was going to happen?"

Minerva considered this, and came the conclusion that Stephanie was innocent, although she refused to believe it.

"Albus can't you like use legilimens or something to find out who did it?" whispered Minerva to Albus.

"Minerva you know that's strictly forbidden," he whispered back.

Minerva sighed and looked down. She saw Gregory fooling with the floor that they were stuck in. He stood up, dusted himself off and said.

"I believe the floor will either release you in about twenty minutes or you will be stuck and they will have to cut you out."

"And just how would you know so bloody much?" asked Minerva suspiciously.

"From the texture of the floor," he said simply, "it's starting to harden, so either you will pop out on top of the floor, or you will be stuck in solid stone and they will have to use magic to cut you out."

"Nice going Sherlock," said Stephanie patting him on the back

"What did you call me?"

Rayne giggled as Armando told her about the time Quinn and Albus had gotten into a fight over who was better at getting a girlfriend. They had gotten so wrapped up in the argument that they bet each other that whoever got a date with Professor Angelica Donaldson, the Quidditch instructor, first would win. Angelica had a boyfriend, and she wasn't about to go out with either of them, but they kept at it. Armando had finally told her about the bet, so she told the both of them to meet her in her office for a "romantic evening" that Friday. They both showed up, but no Angelica. That night, she had apparated to Paris to see her future fiancé. When they both found out that she had set them up. When she came back from Paris the following morning and announced that she was engaged they gave up, only to, the next week, get into and argument at who was the better kisser. Armando had to put a stop to it there, because they had asked almost every female teacher to tell them who the better kisser was. After that they had never betted anything (surprisingly).

"You can't be serious!" giggled Rayne. Her and Armando where still arm and arm. The lake shined brilliantly in the glow of the moon light.

"No, it's true. It was rather funny when I told Mrs. Donaldson what they were doing."

"It must have been. Actually, it sounds like something that Stephanie and Alastor would do. You should hear some of the bets they've make. Like last week, when Alastor insisted that he could "cream" Stephanie in a tooth brushing competition. They went around the school, asking every one who had shinier teeth."

"Well who won?" asked Armando, who was rather amused.

"Neither of them. They ended up with the same amounts of votes after I made them stop." He chuckled.

"It's not funny," protested Rayne, "Professor Dippet, it was so embarrassing. I even had to apologize to a couple of first years who looked scared."

"Professor Dippet," he said, rubbing his chin, "is rather professional, and we are friends, so why have you never called me Armando?"

"Well.. I... you're a teacher and I… Okay, Armando it is, as long as you don't call me Miss LaBorde anymore."

"All right, it's a deal. Besides, I prefer my first name to my last name. Did you know that when have upset students they called me dipstick or even worse dipshit?" Rayne's mouth twitched as she tried to hold back a smile.

"Where did you hear that?" as if she didn't know. Alastor, the Weasley twins, and Stephanie used on a regular basis when he annoyed them, and she had heard it other places, too, though Rayne would never dream of calling him either of the names.

"Quinn told me that, but he says they have equally bad names for him, like Grisslewald." Rayne had heard this one too, but Stephanie never used it, although it wasn't used by everyone else as frequently as Dippet's nicknames were.

"Have you heard those before?"

"Yes," she admitted. Rayne imagined Stephanie pointing at her and calling her a traitor.

"Where?"

"I'm not a stool pigeon."

"Dog gone it." Rayne laughed. Stephanie and Alastor always used dog gone it when they were being sarcastic. Suddenly, a soft breeze blew over the lake. Rayne shivered, and Armando put an arm around her.

"It's getting cold early this year," he said almost in a whisper. Rayne agreed with a nod of her head

"It is going to be... interesting... when you have to do detention with Stephanie and the twins."

"Yes I'm really looking forward to it," he said dryly.

"What are you going to make them do?"

"I was going to make Jonathan and Gregory clean out my desk, and I was going to have Stephanie sit still for the entire time."

"That will torture for her. She cannot sit still, I swear she is ADD but I think that's the beauty of her personality."

Rayne and Armando both looked at each other then said, "Nah."

" But that's exactly why I am doing it. I know that the twins will hate cleaning things because they try and keep everything gross and disgusting, and Stephanie can sit still for about two minutes without cracking."

"More like two seconds. That is a rather cruel and unusual punishment."

"I know," he said smiling. They went on in silence for a while, and Rayne became unusually aware of Armando's arm around her. _He's just being nice,_ she told herself,_ nothing else._ They continued in silence until Armando spoke.

"It's getting late; we should go inside," he said softly. Rayne nodded, and they tuned back toward the castle. Rayne couldn't help but to be slightly disappointed, and she had a vague feeling that Armando was, too. When they arrived in the entrance hall they said their good byes and they both went their separate directions.

Gregory had been right about the spell. About twenty minutes after they had arrived in Gryffindor tower, the spell had worn off and they had poofed on top of the ground. They quickly found Minerva's wand which was in a corner, did a quick scorgify charm, and got dressed.

"Well that was an interesting night...to say the least."

"I have to agree with you, Minerva."

"So, what now?"

"We say good night I suppose."

She looked down for a moment as if that wasn't the right thing to do. They were alone in the common room now. After the entire house had seen them and numerous photos taken, the students moved on to the next thing, or sleeping so they could have plenty of energy to cover the school in the photos.

"Well..."

She suddenly jumped on him putting him into a bear hug.

"Professor?"

"Er...yes?" responded a very startled transfiguration instructor.

"I just want you to know how much you mean to me."

"You...mean a lot to me too Minerva."

"You really have made an impact on my life sir."

"As you have on my life."

"Well good night... Albus," she said releasing him.

"Good night Minerva."

**A/N: mwahahahahhahahaha I love to write fight scenes **

**Rayne: I love to write romance scenes **

**Stephanie: bleh gooshy gooshy bad for Stephanie I cant take it!**

**Look people you really need to review or um well just keep reviewing or I won't post or something bad like that**

**Translations: **

**Vous parlez frech – you speak French?**

**Oui – yes**

**Ferait vous aime me joindre pour une promenade autour du lac? j'ai le chocolat - Would you like to join me for a walk around the lake? I have chocolate**


	6. Stupid Bets

**Disclaimer: We own nothing and if you sue that's what you'll get **

**A/N: sorry I haven't been updating but I have A LOT to do I have swimming 4 times a week and I made the varsity volleyball team so lots f practices and game...plus homework lots and lots of homework so I'm doing my best**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 6

Stupid Bets

Rayne was lazily sitting on a bench in the Great Hall, trying to think of something to do, when Alastor popped out of nowhere.

"Hey!"

"Eh!" groaned Rayne. She shot Alastor a look that said, "Annoy me and die."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Alastor, I'm tired, and it's a Saturday."

"Since when are you tired in the morning?"

"Since now."

"You're never tired in the morning. What did you do last night?"

Rayne hesitated. She sure wasn't going to tell him that she had had a romantic evening with the headmaster of Hogwarts, "Stephanie challenged me to an all night choco – thon."

"And that would be?" inquired Alastor giving her a confused look.

"It would be that whoever ate the most chocolates won."

"I thought Stephanie and I were the only ones aloud to make stupid bets and games."

That statement brought back even more memories of last night's conversation with Armando.

Stephanie came down the stairs, scratching her head and rubbing her eyes.

"Hey Steph," said Alastor in a cheery tone, "heard about your choco – thon and I want to compete one day."

Stephanie grunted something then screamed, "THE LIGHT IT BURNS!" she threw her arms over her head and ran in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Okay... Looks like you're not the only one who had a bad night"

"I'm going back to bed," muttered Rayne in her be famed cross tone.

"Okay, have nice sleeps," called Alastor after her.

Rayne made her way to the common room, completely unaware of her surroundings, mainly because she was reminiscing in her thoughts about last night, about how Armando was...well, perfect- for her at least. About how she had felt when he had put his arm around her. About the scent he had in his clothes, and the fact that she could never forget it, but really she didn't want to forget it. About how he had so kindly kept her warm in his arms, and the way she had just wanted to fall asleep in his arms. And that maybe what she felt towards Armando was more than a crush- but she knew that he would never feel anything towards her like she felt towards him. Or, at least, she thought he wouldn't. In fact, Rayne was so caught up in her thoughts that if a herd of elephants were to come running down the corridor, followed by a band of blood thirsty hopping vampires that had piranha heads with the horns of a ram and snake beards, she probably wouldn't have noticed. It wasn't until the fat lady asked her for the password for the third time that Rayne finally snapped back to reality. When she entered the common room, Stephanie was sprawled out on a chair, snoring loudly.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Rayne shaking Stephanie. Unfortunately Stephanie was violent when it came to be woken up and she hit Rayne in the head making Rayne stumble backwards

"Stephanie!" yelled Rayne who, after knowing Stephanie for 14 years was used to this.

"Five more minutes, mom."

"Stephanie DeMattos I am not your mother, now get up this instant, we need to talk!"

"Go away, mom, can't you see I'm tired?"

"Yes, I can, and I am not your mother," said Rayne steadily growing angrier, "and I want to know why you are so tired."

"EH!All right! Jeeze, you sure sound like my mother."

"Stephanie, what did you do last night!"

"Okay, well it all started when you left me in the library. Riddle came up to the table I was sitting at and asked me if he wanted to hang out. Well I said I would hang out with him because I didn't want to me mean-"

"Yeah sure not mean."

Stephanie glared, "No interruptions or I just won't tell you. I have that ability you know."

"Sorry, go on."

"As I was saying, so I said sure I'll hang out with you. So we played a little one on one Quidditch in which I kicked his butt. So then we got bored and he was like you wanna take a walk? And I thought it was a good idea because it was a beautiful night. So we started walking and first he put his arm around me, and I thought sure not a problem. I was kind of cold and he was warm. Plus it's not like he's ugly or stupid or anything like that. But then I realized that any random person could see us and by like 'Oh my god Stephanie and Tom are going out' so I just kind of pulled away and made up some crap that I wasn't ready for a relationship or something goofy like that, and then-"

"He kissed you," finished Rayne.

"Oh no, he didn't just kiss me. HE WAS ALL OVER ME! And I was just like ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew. So I nailed him in the stomach, put him in an arm lock, threatened him, and then kissed him on the cheek."

Rayne seemed perplexed by the last statement, "You kissed him?"

"Yeah just to confuse him, also I wouldn't mind dating him if he wasn't such a jerk."

"Oh."

Rayne had never particularly liked Tom Riddle. Rayne had a certain feeling when she met people for the first time, and only a select few times. Rayne knew that if he asked nicely, and not the way he had, Stephanie would have gladly been Tom's girlfriend. Now his chances were almost gone, but Rayne also knew that he still had a chance if he played his cards right, and Tom Riddle never messed up, or at least not twice in a row.

"It was fun."

"Yeah, I'll bet," said Rayne dryly.

"So... spill," said Stephanie, looking too excited for Rayne's comfort, "what did _you_ do last night?"

"No, you have to answer this question before I tell you about the best evening of my life. Did you enjoy the kiss?"

"Which one?"

"The first one, the one before you put him in an arm lock."

"Well, yeah... He's a really good kisser, but the fact that he kinda… well, you know what I mean… he shouldn't have done it that way."

"Well, what if he tried it again?" said Rayne, sort of going into a trance, "but this time he gently whispered the question in your ear, and you nodded you head. Then he placed a hand on your waist and a hand in your hair and leaned in close to you. Then you put your arms around his neck, and he gently pressed his lips to yours, then you slightly parted your lips so his tongue could roam your mouth, but it became more and more intense, until it was a passionate kiss that you never wanted to end?"

Stephanie could only stare at her, not knowing whether to be scared or to be happy with the thought of Tom actually doing that. She made up her mind, "You read way too many romance novels, Rayne."

"Well excuse me for being more passionate and romantic than you."

"Well excuse you for being psychotic," Rayne glared at her, "and excuse me for being more normal than you."

"You? More normal than me? Ha! That's a laugh."

"You are just weird in a different way. I am weird in a funny, entertaining, slightly annoying, and sometimes in a slightly scary way, and you are weird in a weird way which is not good."

Rayne was baffled by this statement.

Stephanie smiled, "Well, it's true, but go on, I answered your question, so now you answer mine."

"I think I'm in love, Stephanie."

"Oh my god, Alastor has finally put a spell on you! Snap out of it!" Stephanie jumped out of her chair and started to shake Rayne by the shoulders.

"I'm not in love with Alastor, you twit, it's Armando!" Stephanie stared at Rayne with a gaping mouth.

"I had the most amazing night of my life with him. First, I ran into him and then…"

"Wait, so you're telling me that the best most romantic night of your life was when you got knocked down by Armando Dippet? God, Rayne you are a freak. Plus you were cheating on Alastor! CHEATING!" she yelled a second time for emphasis.

"I was not and if you would let me finish..."

"Oh, okay, keep going."

"Well, he helped me up, then then asked me to join him in a walk around the lake, and when I got cold he put his arm around me, and…"

"Hope he was wearing deodorant."

"Stephanie! Stop interrupting!"

"Jeez, you don't have to get snippy, keep going."

"I felt so wonderful, standing next to him, like he could protect me from all of the evil in the world."

"Sure," said Stephanie, rolling her eyes, and then in a softer tone (if Stephanie could be soft) she said, "and I will grow wings and fly into Quinn's arms and we will ride off into the sunset."

"I'm sure he would take you, with or without the wings."

"I was being sarcastic."

"So? You know you want to."

"Shut... the bloody hell... up."

"Okay, but let me finish. So we were talking about bets that our friends made," she told Stephanie about the bet the Quinn and Albus had made which made Stephanie double over in her chair with laughter, "then we walked around the lake, we talked some more and it was the best night of my life," sighed Rayne.

Stephanie snorted the fell off her chair laughing, "Would you shut up!"

"Rayne's in love!" teased Stephanie.

"Well at least I like a respectable man," said Rayne in a smug tone.

"Who cares! It's... so... funny!"

"You have the weirdest sense of humor."

"Thank you," said Stephanie, wiping a tear from her eyes

"Stephanie, you really do need to shut your mouth."

"I would… if I could… but I can't… so I won't…," she chocked out.

"Stephanie, I swear to God that I am in love with a man, and I am really serious, it isn't just like a little crush, and you are laughing at me. Why didn't I guess this would happen?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't- ow! My ribs!"

"Stephanie, I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped dead from lack of oxygen," this comment, however, didn't help.

"I'm trying!"

"Stephanie, take slow, deep breaths!" After a few minutes, she managed to regain self control.

"Rayne, I'm only worried about one thing."

"What's that?"

"What about Alastor?"

"Well, I doubt that Armando and I will ever be really serious- I mean, he's a teacher, and I'm a student." Rayne had been trying to avoid this fact, but it had to be said sometime. Stephanie couldn't think of anything to say.

"Okay, well, we have Quidditch practice, and I'm probably going to have to fight Slytherin for the field again, so come on."

"Well, now that you and Tom are '_involved,'_ it shouldn't be a problem." But that was just the opposite of what Stephanie was thinking. He was probably furious with her, so he was going to be screaming and raving when they got out there. So Stephanie didn't hear Rayne (not that she would have listened to her anyway).

It was a bright and sunny morning when Stephanie and Rayne got to the Quidditch pitch. Campbell Parkers who was the keeper, the Weasley twins, who were the beaters, Minerva, and Thomas Spinett, who was a chaser along with Rayne and Minerva, were already out fighting with the Slytherin team. Normally, Stephanie and Tom got along pretty well, but when it came to Quidditch, they hated each other's guts. Especially now, because of the special event that had taken place the night before.

"Hey, Riddle!" yelled Stephanie, "Go jump off a cliff or something- I don't have time for this, we have a game tomorrow and I reserved the field."

"No! We have the field and you know it."

"Says who? The little psychopathic man that lives inside your mind? I don't think so."

"Look, DeMattos, we have all rights to the field, and that's that."

"Yeah, right. Now, get lost, before things get ugly," snarled Stephanie, cracking her knuckles. Everyone winced. When Stephanie cracked her knuckles the people in China heard (the poor Chinese hadn't been able to sleep in eighteen years). Really, Stephanie did nothing quietly. Except for when she was sneaking around and spying on someone. She was surprisingly quiet then, as when she was younger she used to sneak around her house to avoid her parents and other people she didn't want to talk to (which Rayne found very funny). So Stephanie found the best nooks and crannies to hide in when they were avoiding teachers or when they were following someone, and they never got caught. Equally funny was the fact that she had taught Rayne, Alastor, and the twins to perfect the art, too.

"On one condition," said Tom, sliding over to her and whispering something in her ear. Stephanie frowned.

"Well that sounds like a one sided bet, Riddle," she said, and then she whispered something in his ear, and a mischievous smile came onto his face.

"All right, deal," he said, and they spit shook on it much to the disgust of Rayne and Minerva.

They had a very good practice; everyone seemed to be playing at their best, especially Rayne, who was propelled by the fact that Armando would be at the match tomorrow. Stephanie hoped and prayed that they would do that good in the game tomorrow.

Later that night, after they had eaten dinner and Alastor was walking the girls to the Gryffindor common room, and Rayne struck the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Stephanie, what were you and Tom talking about?"

"To get the Quidditch pitch, he wanted to make a bet on tomorrow's game."

"Oh boy, you and your bets."

"Whatever. Anyway, if Gryffindor wins, then the entire Slytherin team has to go through Monday in their boxer shorts (the entire team was male)."

"And if Gryffindor looses?" inquired Alastor.

"Then I have to snog with Riddle." Stephanie decided not to tell them the rest of the bet, the part that involved embarrassing photos of everyone on the Gryffindor team. Alastor had a sudden coughing attack, and Rayne spluttered.

"You... can't be serious?" choked Rayne.

"Actually I am. 1.) I don't intend to loose, and 2.) I hear Tom has a six pack."

Rayne and Alastor laughed, and a broad grin crossed Stephanie's face.

**A/N: Omg, what will happen? Who will win the match? Will Stephanie have to snog Tom? Find out if you keep reading, but if don't review I will hunt you down and make you wish that you were never born.**

**Rayne: nice, Steph **


	7. Pushing and Shoving

**A/N: hey ppl hope you guys like this chapter 0o it's the Quidditch chapter! Now you can find out whos going to win because I know you are dying to find out oh btw sorry the update took so long :)**

**Stephanie: yea and you better review or I'll rip off your head**

**Rayne: oh yeah Stephanie intimidation will really help (dramatically rolls eyes) **

**Stephanie: listen you need to shove it**

**Rayne: don't you talk to me like that!**

**(This might take a while)**

Constant Vigilance

Chapter 7

Pushing and Shoving

It was around 10:30 in the great hall that was jammed with students. The sun was shining (even though it was freezing), the birds were chirping, everyone was in a just delightful mood (except Stephanie she wasn't a morning person), it was just a few hours before the big match that had _lots_ of _interesting_ bets riding on it….and Stephanie was shoveling down food like there was no tomorrow.

"Stephanie I don't know how you can eat right now," mumbled Rayne as Stephanie shoveled down another plateful of food.

"Eating always makes me feel better. It wakes me up. I hate the morning. The sun gets annoying. Too bright too early. If it were up to me everything would be done at night and people would sleep during the day."

"If everything was up to you everything would be chaotic," Stephanie grinned at this statement, "but aren't you in the least bit nervous about the match? I mean if we loose you have to SNOG Tom," Rayne waved her arms in the air for emphasis.

"No I won't. We won't loose. I don't loose, maybe you've forgotten."

"There's a first time for everything Steph," mumbled Rayne as she stood up to go take a shower and start getting ready for the match at 11:00.

About 20 minutes later in the Gryffindor locker room, Stephanie was giving her pre-match pep talk.

"All right people! This is a big match! Lots of bets are riding on this match!"

"Yeah," started Gregory, "I put twenty galleons on us to win."

"Also you know what's going to happen to _me_ if we don't win!" said Stephanie. By now the entire school knew the bet between her and Tom.

"Although it would serve you right if we _did_ loose," mumbled Minerva, "maybe you would learn from your mistakes although I doubt it."

"That comment is enough to get you the bench for the match," snarled Stephanie rather viciously.

"Oh I'm not going to throw the match or anything like that."

"You'd better not," growled Stephanie. "Anyway, WHO'S GONNA WIN?!"

"WE ARE!" chanted the team.

"WHO ARE WE?!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the all started whooping and screaming the grabbed their brooms and flew out into the stadium.

"Are you ready, Quidditch fans?!" exclaimed an excited Anthony Jordan, an African American boy who had dreadlocks and was in his sixth year from the announcer's podium. In response to Anthony's question, there was a loud combination of whoops and cheers from all of the students in the stands.

"I think they are," said an equally excited Brandon Lee, and oriental boy who was also in his sixth year and helped Anthony commentate each game.

"And here come the teams, making their way onto the field," announced Brandon.

It was a cold winter day, and an icy breeze went through even the thickest jacket. As Stephanie flew out onto the Quidditch pitch, her ears were ringing from the screaming of the crowd. She watched from her spot above everyone as red, gold, silver, and green mixed as the teams took their places, and spotted Tom on the other side of the field, scowling.

"Hey, dickless, what's up?" yelled Stephanie over to Tom "Uh- oh, looks like the trash talk has already started," said Anthony Jordan excitedly into the microphone.

"Yeah, and I think that Tom has a crush on Stephanie, because I could have sworn that he said..." started Brandon, but he was cut off when Quinn shot him a nasty look.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Brandon," mumbled Anthony.

"Shut up, you have no room to talk," yelled Tom angrily.

"Your right there," yelled Stephanie, grinning. It took Tom a minute to figure out what she had said, and then yelled back:

"Whatever... Slytherin is still gonna win, and you remember our bet, don't you?" he yelled with a smirk.

"Yeah, and I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of boxer shorts you wear... unless you wear briefs. I sure hope you don't."

There was a loud chorus of giggles from the audience and Stephanie noticed Alastor wince and the Weasley twins give each other a high five.

"Take your places!" yelled the Quidditch official, Angelica Donaldson, "I want a good clean match!" she said eyeing Tom and Stephanie. Stephanie grinned. It wasn't the kind of grin that you really wanted to see. It was the kind of grin that made you want to run away. Angelica did a double take when she saw the maniacal look on Stephanie's face, then she let loose the snitch and the bludgers.

"Ready… Set…" she threw the quaffle in the air. Rayne sped towards it, caught it, and then passed to Minerva, who passed to Campbell, who took a shot, and... made it.

_Yes!_ Thought Stephanie. She flew up to where the teachers sat (where you could always get the best view of the field). When she got there, Quinn and Armando smiled and waved at her. Quinn mouthed that Slytherin was going to win (he didn't know about the bet, none of the teachers did), and Stephanie shook her head. Quinn always joked with her like that and he and Armando always waved at her whenever she came near the teacher's stand during a match. She moved a little lower so that she was next to the checkered pattern of the curtain that hung down the tower, and she saw the last thing she wanted.

"You enjoying the match?" asked Tom as he flew towards her.

"Go away, you never come over here."

"So, I can't talk to you then?"

"No. You will break my concentration."

"Oh, I suppose you were concentrating by talking with the teachers," said Tom grinning.

Stephanie turned and glared at him but said nothing.

"Well, I'm really looking forward to snogging you."

"No, I'm really looking forward to seeing you in your boxer shorts."

"We aren't taking it that far, Steph." She glared at him again.

"Ha! You wish. No, I mean when you loose and you have to go through the entire day in your underwear." Suddenly her head snapped in one direction, but she didn't move. Apparently Tom didn't notice.

"So... Tom," she said putting an arm around his neck and putting her head on his shoulder as best she could while still staying on her broom.

He looked down at her, with a smug and surprised expression, "Finally realized your feelings for me eh?"

"Not exactly," she said, elbowing him in the stomach, but they were in a secluded part of the stadium, so no one noticed that Tom almost fell off of his broom. Stephanie sped off, and Tom noticed that infamous glint of gold that is mentioned in nearly every Quidditch match ever written. Once Tom was able to breathe right again, he shot in the direction of Stephanie.

_Three, two, one…_ thought Stephanie.

"And I think the seekers have spotted the snitch! There they go!" shouted Anthony into the microphone.

_Right on time_ thought Stephanie with a smirk.

While Stephanie was flying after the snitch, she noticed that Rayne was fighting with Bruce McClellan, a burly Slytherin chaser, over the quaffle. Since the snitch was heading in their direction, Stephanie signaled to Rayne with a high pitched wolf whistle. Rayne gave Stephanie a curt nod, and pulled Bruce in Stephanie's way. Stephanie rammed herself into Bruce's hands making him let go of the quaffle. Rayne managed to score, but Tom but gotten ahead of Stephanie. Stephanie grunted with frustration but then sped off after Tom. She managed to get a bit closer to him after about a minute and he turned around to shout at her.

"You can try and catch me darling but it won't work!" his voice sounded faint but Stephanie managed to catch most of what he said and shouted back,

"Don't call me darling!"

When she had shouted this Riddle had already turned around but he heard her very clearly and grinned evilly. Now the snitch was moving in such radical zig zags, that if Tom and Stephanie didn't know any better they might have suspected it of trying to give them the feeling of riding a muggle roller coaster. After it was done zig zagging and going up and down, it started to weave in between the different towers. After almost skimming the first two towers, it made an incredibly sharp turn on the Slytherin tower on which Tom let up a bit. But he let up enough for Stephanie to catch up with him.

"MOVE OUT OF MY WAY, DEMATTOS!" yelled Tom, ramming Stephanie.

"NOT A CHANCE, RIDDLE!" Stephanie yelled back, ramming him even harder.

The snitch suddenly swooped down and around the tower where the Hufflepuffs sat, bringing Stephanie and Tom into a vertical race. The snitch kept going higher and higher until Stephanie thought the might break through the atmosphere. She was side-by-side with Tom and the both kept glancing at each other to see if one would let up. Neither did. They both might have actually lost the snitch but whenever one couldn't see it the other most likely could. So they kept speeding on, and soon they actually broke through the clouds. They both spotted the snitch to the left of them starting to dive downward. They gave each other a quick glance before Stephanie shoved Tom and raced after the snitch.

"That was dirty DeMattos!" yelled Tom as he caught up with her which left them side by side again.

"You're dirty Riddle," she shouted back. And before she knew what had happened he had grabbed her hair and gave it a good, hard tug.

"Maybe your right," he retorted before letting go of a struggling Stephanie.

Stephanie managed to get a good smack across his face before moving out of his arm's reach. They were now in an almost completely vertical race downward (It never fails, here comes the dive), and the whistling of the wind in Stephanie's ears was almost deafening. As she sped towards the ground at top speed, neck and neck with Tom, time seemed to stop, the noise from the crowd became as low as a whisper, and all she could hear was Tom's heavy breathing. Suddenly she started to remember the past few nights. She remembered pinning her down and kissing her, Rayne's new crush, how she had beat up Tom, and the bet.

_This is a great time to be reminiscing, _she thought. _Well, if I don't make it out of this alive I will die with dignity and not have to snog Riddle, but if I do loose I guess he wasn't that bad of a kisser._ As Stephanie flew after the snitch the ground was becoming closer and closer. Then, as suddenly as everything stopped, everything snapped back to normal- the crowd was there, and everything wasn't in slow motion anymore. She looked over at Tom, and by the expression on his face she could tell he had just experienced what she had. Now they were only 100 feet off of the ground. 75 feet. 50 feet. 35 feet. There was a silence from the crowd as they two were about twenty feet above the ground. They both pulled out just before they hit the ground. They were now flying so close to the ground that Stephanie could have reached out a hand and touched the grass.

"LET ME GO!" yelled Stephanie as Tom wrapped his foot around hers, throwing her off balance. She looked around for Angelica to see her yelling at a Slytherin chaser for punching a Gryffindor chaser, who had happened to be Rayne, who was no doubt trying to beat the shit out of whichever chaser punched her. She yelled at Tom to let go again then holding on her broom with one hand she reached out and grabbed a fistful of his hair. He screamed something that Stephanie didn't catch and pulled on her leg even more. The snitch was now literally two feet from them and Stephanie had a plan. She had decided that Tom wasn't letting go any time soon so she yanked him hair forward making him fly forward and a little bit to the right. He flew off of his broom and since his leg was wrapped around hers she went with him. But because she had thrown him off to the side he completely missed the snitch.

It took her a couple of seconds to realize what had happened and for everything to stop spinning. She managed to look up and realize she was lying on her back. She felt a fluttering against her butt and reached behind her slowly. Stephanie opened her hands to reveal a golden snitch, trapped like a butterfly. She looked up with a huge smile, and held the snitch up into the air. The silence was broken as everyone (except for the Slytherins) broke into mad cheering. She noticed that Tom had gotten up and was now standing in front of her. It looked like his chin was going to touch the ground, and his eyes were so wide that they looked like they were going to bulge out of his head. This only made Stephanie grin even more. Then she felt something hard hit her, and she realized that Rayne had tackled her. Then the whole team tackled her, which hurt, but she was too excited to notice the pain. Then the twins lifted her on their shoulders and carried her back to the locker rooms, chanting and yelling something about that Stephanie was the only seeker in the world who could catch the snitch with their butt.

**A/N: I really enjoyed writing that didn't you Rayne?**

**Rayne: Not really, I like writing the romance scenes better.**

**Stephanie: … You are such a freak.**

**Rayne: Shut up, what do you know?**

**Stephanie: I know a lot more than you!**

**Rayne: Don't even go there!**

**(Once again, this could take a while.)**


End file.
